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similar kind which have appeared in this country . We have often felt that a good biographical dictionary of living- celebrities—political , military , literary , &c—is a desideratum . Our usual dictionaries and cyclopedias do not make an " article " of a ma-n till lie is dead , whereas fifty times in a week one wants to know the " antecedents " of sonic living man . The German Conversations Lexicon has articles on contemporaries ; and if you want to know how old Sir Lytto-n Bulwer is , or when Mr . Carlyle published his first work , we believe you will find the most accurate information on such points in that German compilation . Even that , however , is inadequate ; and what other means of similar information we have are too scattered for
convenience . The work of M . des Essa . rts , of course , supplies only one part of the desideratum—confining itself to biographies of men figuring directly or indirectly in the present war , A critic in the Journal des DebaTs charges the writer with some inaccuracies and omissions . Complainingthat , amongst other sketehes , ttcre is -wanting one of General Bosquet * the critic states the following fact , which will be interesting in this country ' where General Bosquet ' s name is now " so popular . In 1848 , General De Laiioricieke , then Minister of War , was greatly attacked by the Opposition for having raised to the rank of general of brigade a colonel whose right by seniority was not admitted . He remained firm , however , declaring that he had promoted the young colonel for unusual services in Africa , and that his worth would be found out one day . The Assembly was sensible enough to takeXamoricieee's word for it ; and -the colonel thus promoted is ° now General Bosquet .
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Who does not remember that wonderful spectacle to gods and men—the Frankfort Parliament of L 848 , wherein it was shown how a century or two of combined metaphysics , tobacco , and despotism , can utterly eradicate action from the Teuton , substituting endless talk in its stead ? The ghost of tliis defunct Talk-Babel has recent ! j appeared , provoked by Hsimj in his late volumes , and one of the arch-talkers spouts once more to the extent of three columns in the Cologne Gazette . Among the poems in the Vcrmisclite Schriften is one entitled " Koees I ., " in which Heine ridicule s the Frankfort Parliament after his own fashion , by recommending Germany
not to elect an Emperor from dynasties , but to choose "Kobes I ., of Cologne —a personification of all the faults and follies of tbe impracticables * of 1848 , " Who is Kobes ? " asked the puMic ; " is he a real person , or merely characteristics made personal ? " And just as the public were dismissing the matter and saying " N'importe , " M . Kenedy , deputy from Cologne to the Parliament , wr ites hotly from Zurich to the Cologne Gazetie , claiming to be the real identical Kobes , and enclosing two columns and a half of doggrel in reply to Heine . A perusal of the doggrel will convince the reader that M . KenedxIs claim is valid . He nnist be Kobes
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BOMBARDMENT OF RUSSIAN FINANCE . Les Finances de la Guerre . Par M . Leon Fau . cber . Itessfntrcea Finnncicres da la Russie . Par M . Tegoborski . Jiqionse a M . Tegoborski . Par M . Leon Faucher . ( In tlie Jievue d <; s Deiac Monties of September and November , 1854 . ) The Czar of the Russias has at length been hit . In vain does Napier , with a splendid armament , summer it in the Baltic—the Czar entrenches himself behind impregnable granite , and gives no answer . In vain is Odessa half bombarded , Alma won , Sebastopol hailed upon for two months with bullets , andlnkcrman defended—the cannon and the bayonet speak in vain , and as far as we can know , the Czar remains unmoved , at any rate gives no reply . In vain does the Times thunder its loudest thunder , and in -vain in its columns does the acute Smith suggest Perekop , the keen-sighted Brown threaten Keitch , the common-sense . Jones cry Finland , and the spasmodic Thompson shriek Kamchatska and the Arctic Circle—despite all this , the C ^ av remains impassive , and gives no answer . But what Captain Sword has
hitherto failed in doing , and what the choicest bluster of English raw-recruit penmanship could not achieve , han boon achieved by Ca . ptain Pen in France , and a quarry from the bow of logic , fact , and reason has hit the Russian Eagle , which turns round called and wounded , and—replies . In September M . Leon Faucher , whoso death we hear of with regret , attacked , in the Revue des deux Maudes , Russia on its weakest side , and in a masterly article proved conclusively that if the war were waged energetically on our part , Russia could not possibly resist over a third campaign . _ In the November number of the Revue is a reply from M . Togoborski , and also a short , but quite conclusive , parting shot from Leon Faucher . The importance of this reply of Tegoborski ( Author of Inquiries into the Productive Powers of Jtussiti ) cannot bo exaggerated , not from its intrinsic value ( which is nil ) , but for these reasonsthat it is a defence of the Cz-. nr "by the Cztiv himself , and that tho fact of
the Czar defending himself at all is a most significant fnct . That Tegobornki's reply has either been written by express command of tho C # ar , or sent to Puns for publication by his express sanction , no one can doubt ; and that Kussin , that has never till now vouchsafed u word of its finances , never allowed its revenue to be known , never produced a . budget , nor in any way explained its monetary arrangements to tho world—thnt Russia should now reply to Fauohor and hocIc to defend herself before Europe , cleavly proves , wo think , that Fuuohor ' n conclusioni * arc true , and that Russia is fearful of their ofl ' oot on the public of Fmn « o imd England . If they wore false , why should Russia reply ? If sho were really opulent in men and money , and our fiction and policy wore influenced by the conviction that she was bankrupt in the one and not so strong ns wo aro in the other , RiiHRia would olearly be the gainer by our error . Hut if that condition be ( rue , then it becomes vitally important to Russia to prevent tho Westovn nations from believing it to be true . For fifty years now Russia hns asHkluously sought tho prestige that
attaches to mysteries . Her resources unknown , her power in money and in men has been the favourite subject for literary Munchausens to mill the long bow about , and they pulled it until Russia had grown to be a va < me but omnipotent bogy , to terrify the naughty children of W « stern Liberalism it such as Faucher would only keep silence , -what would be the probable result in the idea of the Czar , supposing no vital blow to be struck at him in a couple of campaigns ? Would it not be that the foolishly . sanguine public ot Western Europe , that sent out its elite of men a « d its strongest -vessels witn frantic cheers , and made reckless bets that Russia would be crushed in a couple of months , smarting tinder the reaction of merely negative success , would cry— " We were rightly told that Russia's resources are
inexhaustiblesee , in two campaigns we have not once struck home : let us make an honourable peace while we can . " Whether this would be the case or not , 2 *! ? Ot i ? n ? nwise ho P e of the Czar > ^ Faucher only would keep silence . ± 5 ut it the iacts adduced by Faucher became known and his conclusions universally adopted , what would then be the result ? Would not the same public cry— " True , in two campaigns we have done nothing ; but we knowhow bankrupt at the core is Russia , and let us fight on : be it three , oTfour , or live campaigns , seeing that it is as clear as any theorem of Euclid , that Russia must be utterly bankrupt long ere we are driven to any extremities of finance . Hence is it that what the sword could not do as vet . the ven
has * done ; hence is it that forlorn-hope Tegoborski is ordered by his parental Czar to immolate himself at the batteries of Faucherian deduction . Faucher ' s original article is half philosophical , half statistical . In the former part he examined Russia's resources in men , « , nd proved , what is indeed evident , that seeing that Russia's population over an immense territory is not so great as that of France and England united , over a much Smaller territory , her resources in men pure and simple are not so great as ours . Hence Russia cannot wage a war of barbarian irruption , like the wars of Alaric , Genghis Khan , and others , in which civilisation was
imperilled , without any curb , by simple brute force of inexhaustible numbers . Heriee she must wage a civilised , war , in which numbers and finance go hand-in-hand . He then turned to the purely statistical , and showed by figures , carefully collected , that Russia began the war in a worse condition than we can end it . In profound peace for thirty-nine years , she has heen a constant borrower . Either , therefore , she has constantly been spending more than her income , and so sailing tranquilly year by year to the vortex of bankruptcy ; or she has been hoarding funds for the present emergency . That the latter has not been the case , Faucher proves by marshalling the following dreadful " facts against Russia i—
1 st . That no sooner has the war broken out than she has to raise a new loan , which failing in ex-Russian Europe , is converted into & forced loan at home . 2 nd . That she calls in the balance of her former loan . 3 rd . That she withdraws her funds in France , England , and Holland . 4 th . That she seh . es five millions ste / ling of the metallic guarantee of bills of credit from the fortress of St . Petersburg . 5 th . That slie issues from the beginning of 1853 dovmward , fresh bills to ' th . e tune of foux millions sterling . 6 th . That she takes the loans made to the public coffers by the banks , the amount unknown , but certainly very large . 7 th . That she seizes the plate of the convent , of Tzeuotochwa . 8 th . That she takes the voluntary loan of the clergy , reported by herself to amount to three millions sterling .
This at the beginning of the war ; afterwai-ds M . Faucher relapsed into the philosophical , and slowed clearly enough that Russia cannot grow richer as the war proceeds . A purely agricultural country , with already only one arm where there should be ten thousand , as men are drafted into the army the production must diminish , the nobles becoming daily poorer , not only will not be able to pa y increased taxes , but not even the same ; and will , into the bargain , withdraw their money from the banks , bringing about this pleas-. mt predicament—that what with its floating debts and its guarantees to the various banks and other establishments , Russia is liable to be called on to pay liabilities to the extent of two hundred millions sterling . This sounds like an Arabian Nights'Entertainment in £ s . d . \ but it is soberly true . And ivhat does Tegoborsk y reply ? He simply denies everything . The lotfn is not a failure ; it marches ( il marcfie ) in Germany and Holland . The Czar has not seized any of the metallic reserve ; it would not be legal for him to do it . There has been no forced loan ; lie has simply invited his subjects to subscribe , and paternally suggested the amount . As for seizing the silver vessels of the convent of WJiaCs-its-name—what do you mean P The Czar steal 1 Isn't his kind treatment of all his Catholic subjects ( the nuns
of Minsk included , we presume ) sufficiently notorious ? In fact , it is quite surprising that Fauclicr should reiterate such scandals , seeing that they have already been denied in several Warsaw papers . And even the deductions Faucher drew from his facts , admitting them to be true , are false , because Russia is quite an exceptional country , and transactions which inevitably lead to utter ruin elsewhere may lead to splendid results in Russia , she is so exceptional . Would that we had space to give an abstract of Faucher ' s reply to this nonsense . Our epitome , however , of Tegoborski is fair and accurate , and we think the reader can easily project for himself in how masterly a manner a man like Faucher , -with fuels at . his complete command , searching logic , cjuict humour , and a playful courtesy , utterly annihilated such a reply . One feels pity thai , an able man like Tcgoborski should be compelled to make such a fool of himself , even in the sorvico of so high a potentate as his Eminence the Czar .
In conclusion , will no enterprising publisher got fcho whole passage-atarms translated and published at a low price ? Ho will assuredly do the State a service , and would be no loser hhnselfl we fancy .
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CHAUCER . Poetical Works of Qcoflre . y Chaucer . Edited by Kobort Doll . Vol . T . Parker and Son . On many accounts this is the moHfc important volume of tho Annotated Edition of the English Pools which Mr . Robert Hell has oflerod to tho public . It is the tirut attempt that hnfl been made , in our time , to popularize Chaucer . In tho present volume- tho fjonor / il render may buy for half-ncrown a Life of the Foot , an Introduction to tho study of his Works , and
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^ December ^ f ^^^^ THE JjA ^ E IL m 5 * A * MB V « B _ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ M . _ ^^^_^ j ^^^ . ^^ M ^^^^ , _ . ^__ ^ ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 23, 1854, page 1215, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2070/page/15/
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